| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
Study design: RCT
Setting: France, occupational
Exercise groups: 1
Comparison groups: 1 |
| Participants |
Number of participants: 75 (E1 = 37, C1 = 38)
Chronic LBP duration: Not specified (not specified)
Neurological/radicular symptoms: Some participants
Mean age (years): 45
Sex (female): 38% |
| Interventions |
Exercise Group 1 (E1): Joint flexion and extension, stretching, stability, co‐ordination, and muscle strengthening exercises; type = mixed; duration = 8 weeks; dose = high; design = standardised; delivery = group; additional intervention = advice/education & psychological therapy
Comparison Group 1 (C1): Usual care/no treatment (control group: continued with normal activity and treatment) |
| Outcomes |
Core outcomes reported: Pain (Numeric Rating Scale); function (Roland‐Morris Disability Questionnaire); work (subscale of the Dallas Pain Questionnaire)
Follow‐up time periods available for syntheses: 8 weeks (short); 26 weeks (moderate) |
| Notes |
Conflicts of interest: None to declare
Funding source: Not reported
Other: None |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
All participants signed a written informed consent before the intervention and were assigned by simple randomisation. |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not described |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Because of the complexity of the workplace setting, there could be no patient blinding. |
| Blinding of care provider (performance bias) |
High risk |
Support for judgement was not available. |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Not described |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
The compliance of the subjects at each stage of the study are presented in the CONSORT flowchart diagram in Figure 1. |
| Participants analysed in group allocated (attrition bias) |
High risk |
Excluded subjects with a large amount of missing data |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement was not available. |
| Groups similar at baseline (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Not described |
| Co‐interventions avoided or similar (performance bias) |
High risk |
Our control group had a significant improvement at six months for Numeric Rating Scale, impact of pain on work and recreational activity, finger to floor distance, and finger to tip of toes distance, even though the individuals did not go through the intervention. |
| Compliance acceptable in all groups (performance bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not described |
| Timing of outcome assessment similar in all groups (detection bias) |
Low risk |
Support for judgement was not available. |
